1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for controlling substance moving speed and apparatus for controlling the same.
2. Related Art
In recent years, tailor-made medicines adapted to individual differences have been garnering attention. In order to realize such tailor-made medicines, it is necessary to precisely decode the base sequences of individual genomes in a short amount of time and accurately understand features in the base sequences of the individual genomes.
Conventionally, the technique of electrophoresing, in a device in which a membrane protein is carried on a lipid bilayer membrane, a nucleic acid so that it passes between a pair of electrodes to thereby decode the base sequence of the nucleic acid has been used (e.g., see non-patent document 1: Clarke, J., Wu, H.-C., Jayasinghe, L., Patel, A., Reid, S. & Bayley, H., “Continuous base identification for single-molecule nanopore DNA sequencing,” Nature Nanotechnology 4, 265-270 (2009)). Specifically, in the technique described in non-patent document 1, the nucleic acid is electrophoresed so that it passes through a hole formed by α-haemolysin in an electrolytic solution, and an ion current at this time is measured, whereby the base sequence of the nucleic acid passing through the hole is determined.
Sequencers for decoding the base sequences of nucleic acids such as described above decode the base sequence of a nucleic acid while causing the nucleic acid to move. At this time, if the moving speed of the nucleic acid is too fast, the sequencer cannot precisely determine the base sequence of the nucleic acid. On the other hand, if the moving speed of the nucleic acid is too slow, the sequencer requires an extremely large amount of time to decode the base sequence of the nucleic acid. Therefore, in the field of sequencers, for example, the development of a technology that can precisely control the moving speed of a substance to a desired speed is needed.
In view of this situation, conventionally, technologies that use the Coulomb force to decelerate the moving speed of nucleic acids have been disclosed (e.g., see non-patent document 2: Pei-chun Yen et al., Review of Scientific Instruments, 83, 034301 (2012)).
However, these conventional technologies have the problem that it is difficult for them to adjust the moving speed of a substance to a desired speed.
For example, there is the problem that if one tries to adjust the moving speed of a substance on the basis of the Coulomb force, basically the moving speed of the substance can only be decelerated, and the moving speed of the substance cannot be accelerated.
Further, if one tries to adjust the moving speed of a substance on the basis of the Coulomb force, the substance adheres around electrodes that are for causing the Coulomb force to act on the substance. Additionally, there is the problem that the motion of the substance whose moving speed one wants to adjust is hindered by the substance adhering around the electrodes.